


Looking Forward

by Suukarin



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Poetry, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 08:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13876686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suukarin/pseuds/Suukarin
Summary: When I met you // I could only look down // But now, because of you // My eyes are fixed forward(Mishima POV, potential future Mishima/Kurusu, non-explicit)





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've wanted to write, so here we go -- chapter-based poem from Mishima's perspective.

Clenched fists against  
   a bare wooden desk  
Makes for a better sight, he thinks,  
   than that of the new student--  
   the so-called criminal whose own eyes pierced  
from behind the glass of his computer screen.

Soft murmurs fill the room--  
   " _He's not what I expected,_ "  
   But he doesn't dare confirm--

Shujin's king  
   has made it clear  
   the fate for those who dare  
to look up.


	2. II

_It's no use, no use--  
_ He watches as his gym shoes scuff along  
   the wooden floors that form the path  
   to Kamoshida's dungeon--  
His sentence for daring  
   to look up.  
  
He thinks, for a moment, on the recent memory  
   of being trapped, cornered by Ryuji  
   and the newcomer, the criminal  
Whose eyes still look forward, hard and unyielding--  
   Unbent by Kamoshida's will.  
  
 _It's only a matter of time--_  
And so Mishima passes through the gate, head bowed,  
   into his prison.


	3. III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bless you lone commentor, I appreciate you

_No, no,  
_ **_No--_ **

On his knees and pulling  
     at his hair, Mishima feels his world  
     crushing from the weight  
     of Kamoshida’s sentence--  
His exile.  
     Even Shiho couldn’t make him be brave.

     “Oh, but-- we still have that--!”  
Through the endless internal repeat  
     of Kamoshida’s cackling,  
Sakamoto’s voice, fierce and--  
_Hopeful? No,_ pierces his thoughts

     and, in the corner  
     of his lowered vision,  
he catches sight of a bent knee  
     before a firm but unfamiliar hand  
     rests on his shoulder,  
     and he looks up

Up for the first time, finally seeing  
     the fire in those eyes for himself--

“He hasn’t won yet,  
     now has he?”

Mishima chokes  
     on this unfamiliar sensation  
     of an emotion that can’t be hope,  
And it’s all he can do not to scream--

 

_Why won’t you look down too?_


	4. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 100% not forgotten about this fic. Work, cosplay, etc etc -- all the usual excuses

**_“I confess them all--”_**  
Even now, in his solitude,  
Mishima cannot forget the sight  
     of the king of Shujin kneeling, repenting,  
     surrendering for all to see.

 _Is this even real…?_  
Lost in his thoughts, he leans away from  
     his dimming monitor and recalls his apology  
     to Takamaki--

     And how _he_ was still there, too;  
The transfer student -- no;  
_Kurusu--_

And while Takamaki struggled to accept  
     the too-late apologies from her peers,   
     Mishima saw that _look_ \--

Shock, of course, from Kamoshida  
     but something more, something not relief, but  
     could he dare to call it….  
_Triumph?_

 _Not quite,_ he decides,  
     But even Mishima could see the pride  
     of victory in his eyes--

 

The look of a thief  
     that hasn’t been caught.


End file.
